Golf Clawdd Offa
Offa’s Dyke (Clawdd Offa) is a 177 mile long dyke that runs along the English/Welsh border from the Severn Estuary just below Chepstow in the south to Prestatyn in the north.
It is generally accepted that much of the earthwork can be attributed to Offa, King of Mercia from 757 to 796. Its structure is not that of a mutual boundary between the Mercians on the one side and the people of Powys on the other. The earthwork was dug with the displaced soil piled into a bank on the Mercian (eastern) side. Where the earthwork encounters hills, it passes to the west of them, constantly providing an open view from Mercia into Wales. The dyke may have been constructed as a defensive earthwork, as well as a political statement of power and intent.
Offa was one of the great rulers of Anglo-Saxon times, though his reign is often overlooked due to a limitation in source material. That he was able to raise a workforce and resources sufficient to construct such an earthwork as Offa’s Dyke is testament to his power.
It is likely that some form of ‘service’ system, along the lines of corvée (unpaid labour), was used to construct the Dyke, with people from local areas being required to build a certain length of the wall. This can be seen as additional to the normal services that had to be offered to kings.
A document exists from around this period known as Tribal Hidage, which makes some assessment of how land was distributed in the 8th century. Though there is little evidence to associate the document with the Dyke, it is possible that both the Dyke and the document stem from a common practice.
The sheep are removed from the course for lambing and ramming
that they go elsewhere to find easier pickings. We have also been granted permission to revert areas of bracken back into grazing land, which gives them larger areas to feed on. And we’ll often herd them to different parts of the course.”
Ian has perfected a maintenance
regime to control the growth of bracken, using mowers and crushers. “The farmers come in once a year, usually around the end of August or beginning of September, and harvest the bracken for bedding. Then in spring, when the young fronds start appearing, we roll the bracken with specially made ribbed rollers that crushes the stems, which reduces the plant’s ability to grow. These rollers also help compact the ground which, again, reduces growth. The net outcome is more grass being made available for the sheep.” The club, under the stewardship of Ian and Greens Chairman David Radbourne, work very closely with the National Trust and local farmers to ensure they comply with their policies and undertake the correct management practices to maintain the common land. The greens are generally mown on a
daily basis, using a combination of triple and Allett pedestrian cylinder mowers. It usually takes the three staff six hours to complete using the pedestrian mowers, along with moving tee boxes, compared to one man and three hours using the triple mower. “The Toro triple mower is a recent acquisition,” confirmed Ian. “Unfortunately, we are losing Gareth, who has decided to leave for a new job opportunity. So, as we will only have two staff, this will help speed up our mowing times. Rather than rush into getting a replacement, we’ve decided to look at other options and, in the meantime, see how we cope using the new triple.” The sward composition of the greens is poa dominant, with some bents and fescues. “Maintenance is fairly straightforward though,” said Ian, “with daily mowing, verticutting every fortnight, spiking monthly and an application of Farmura granular and liquid feeds on a twice monthly basis, along with wetting agents.”
“Several years ago, we invested in an automated watering system for the greens, extracting water from a man- made reservoir we constructed. It holds a
A Trilo blower moves the sheep droppings to higher ground!
20 PC JUNE/JULY 2013
Evidence of cock fighting on this grass bunker
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